We made love, then fell asleep exhausted in each other's arms.

I woke in the middle of the night with Cynthia on my mind and Susan in my bed. I also thought about Karl, what lay ahead, and what awaited me back home.

This mission had gotten off to a bad start at Tan Son Nhat Airport, and when that happens, you're supposed to abort before you crash and burn. But this mission had become a personal journey, and if that included an unhappy ending, I was prepared for that, too.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

In the morning, with the sun rising over the South China Sea and a breeze coming in through the open French doors, we made love again.

We showered together and lay naked in bed until about ten, then got dressed, went down to the veranda and had coffee.

Everything looked the same as the last two mornings, but the world had changed for me, and for her, I think.

We both understood that she wasn't going back to Saigon while I was still in Nha Trang, but I was very firm about her not accompanying me to Hue. I said to her, over coffee, "Hue is the start of my official business here. We got away with this, but if you went with me to Hue, Washington would go ballistic."

She replied, "I understand that. But I will see you in Hanoi."

Susan wanted to sightsee, so we hired a car and driver and went to the Oceanographic Inst.i.tute. We saw a bunch of fish in an aquarium, and thousands of dead sea creatures preserved in gla.s.s jars. It's places like this that could use a direct hit from an artillery sh.e.l.l.

In the afternoon, we visited the Cham Towers in the area, slightly more interesting than the pickled fish in the jars. Susan had a brochure, and informed me, "The Cham people were Hindus, and they occupied this area from the seventh to the twelfth centuries before they were conquered by the ethnic Vietnamese coming down from the north."

"Fascinating." Would I be doing this if I hadn't gotten laid?

There was a Cham Temple complex called Po Nagar where the statues of the Hindu G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses were very erotic, and this place was kind of interesting. There were sculptures of these huge p.e.n.i.ses called lingas, and v.a.g.i.n.as called yonis, and one of the yonis had a water fountain gushing out of it. You don't see stuff like this in a Catholic church.

We spent part of the afternoon exploring the countryside, including an enchanted spot called Ba Ho where three waterfalls fell into three pools in a secluded forest. As we sat by the waterfalls with our feet in the water, Susan studied my guidebook and said to me, "I know you like nude beaches, so I've found another."

I replied, "I hope you don't think that's all I want to do. I loved the Oceanographic Inst.i.tute."

"I know you did. But you can also learn something at a nude beach. Let's go."

We got into our car, and Susan directed the driver to a place called Hon Chong, which is a big stone promontory jutting out into the South China Sea.

From the top, we had a spectacular view of the headlands to the north, and Nha Trang to the south. The sun was over the mountains to the west, and the South China Sea was blue and gold. "Very nice," I said.

She led me to what appeared to be a huge handprint in a big boulder. She said, "This handprint was made by a drunken giant male fairy as he fell on these rocks."

"Takes a lot of rice wine to get a giant fairy drunk," I said.

Susan continued, "He was ogling a female fairy bathing in the nude, down there on Fairy Beach."

I looked down the mountain and saw the beach, but I didn't see any female fairies, nude or otherwise.

Susan said, "The giant got up, ran down to the beach, and captured the female fairy. Sort of like what happened to me yesterday."

That wasn't the way I remembered it, but I know when to keep my mouth shut.

"Despite his aggressive behavior, they fell in love and began a life together."

"That's nice. And lived happily ever after?"

"No. The G.o.ds were angry at them for what they had done."

"Did the G.o.ds live in Washington?"

"Some place like that. The G.o.ds sent the male fairy off to a re-education camp."

"b.u.mmer."

"Right. But the female fairy waited for him for centuries."

"Good lady."

"Yes. But she was heartbroken, and thought he would never return. So she lay down and turned into stone. See that mountain?" She pointed to the northwest. "That's called Nui Co Tien-Fairy Mountain. That peak on the right is her face, gazing up at the sky. The middle peaks are her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and the peaks on the left are her crossed legs."

I looked, and yes, you could imagine a reclining female with her legs crossed.

Susan said, "One day, the male fairy returned to this spot and seeing what had become of his lover, he slammed his hand down over his old handprint, where he'd first seen her bathing on the beach. He was so grief-stricken, he died, and he, too, turned to stone."

I didn't say anything for a while, then commented, "Sad story."

"Almost all love stories have a sad ending." She asked, "Why is that?"

I replied, "I think when the affair begins illicitly, and when everyone around the lovers is hurt or angry... then the affair is going to have an unhappy and probably tragic ending."

Susan looked off at Fairy Mountain. She said, "More importantly, though, the lovers stayed true to each other."

"You're a romantic."

She asked, "Are you the practical type?"

"No one ever accused me of being practical."

"Would you give up your life for love?"

"Why not? I've risked my life for less important things."

She gave me a kiss on the cheek, took my hand, and we walked down the mountain.

That night, we went to the new resort called Ana Mandara that we'd seen on the way down to the Nha Trang docks, and we had a first-rate dinner of Westernized Vietnamese food. The place was owned by a Dutch concern, and the clientele was mostly European, but there were a few Americans as well.

A nice combo was playing at poolside, and we had a few drinks, danced, talked, and held hands.

Susan said, "After dinner at the Rex, I went home that night floating on a cloud."

I replied, "I think I felt the same way."

"You sent me away. What if I hadn't come back?"

"Weren't you told to stick close to me?"

She replied, "Only if you wanted my company, or needed something. If not, I was supposed to disappear. But I wasn't going to do that. I was going to phone you. Then, I decided to just come back and join you for dinner."

"I'm glad you did," I said, but I recalled thinking at the time that it wasn't as spontaneous as Susan was suggesting. Then there were the inconsistencies in the Bill Stanley story, and a few other things that didn't quite add up. The elephant gra.s.s swayed, but there was no breeze; the bamboo clicked, a little closer now.

We left the Ana Mandara, and walked back to the Grand Hotel. We'd kept both rooms, but Susan's room was the one where I slept.

We made love and lay close together on our backs in the bed, surrounded by the coc.o.o.n of the mosquito netting, the bed garlanded with branches of Tet blossoms, the orange-scented candle flickering, and the boric acid on the floor.

We watched the paddle fan spin lazily overhead. A breeze blew in from the open balcony, and I could smell the sea. The next day, Friday, was to be our last full day in Nha Trang, so I said to her, "Have you arranged transportation back to Saigon?"

She was running her foot over my leg. "What?"

"Saigon. Sat.u.r.day."

"Oh. The trains stop running Sat.u.r.day. That's Lunar New Year's Eve."

"How about a car and driver?"

"I'll try to arrange that tomorrow."

This didn't sound like a definite plan. I asked, "Will that be a problem?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. I've never tried to travel around Tet."

"Then maybe you should leave tomorrow."

"I'm not leaving early. I want to spend as much time with you as possible."

"Well, me, too, but-"

"How are you getting to Hue?"

"I don't know. But I need to be there."

She said, "Every plane and train has been booked for months."

"Well... maybe I should also leave tomorrow."

"You should if you want to try to buy yourself a place on the train."

"Could I get a car and driver tomorrow?"

"We'll try. If all else fails, there's always the torture bus. No reservation required. Just buy a ticket at the terminal, and jam yourself in. All you need are elbows and dong."

"What do I do with my dong?"

"Dong. Money. Stop being an idiot." She said, "I took a bus once, Saigon to Hue, just for the experience, and it was was an experience." an experience."

"Maybe we should see about getting out of here tomorrow."

"Yes, that's what we should do first thing tomorrow."

Part Two. She informed me, "I was supposed to go to a Tet Eve house party with Bill."

I didn't reply.

She said, "Everyone we know will be there. Americans, Brits, Aussies, and some Catholic Viets."

"Sounds like fun."

"Well, I'm certainly not going now. I'll just stay home and watch the dragon dances from my window."

"You'll thank yourself in the morning."

"My housekeeper will be with her family, of course, and most of the bars and restaurants are closed, or open only by invitation. So, maybe I'll just warm up some pho and get a bottle of rice wine, put on a Barbra Streisand alb.u.m, and get to sleep early."

"Sounds horrible. How about the Beach Boys?"

"I suppose I could go to the party, but it would be awkward."

"Would you like to go to Hue with me?"

"Oh... that's an idea." She crawled on top of me and said, "You're such a sweetheart."

"And you're trouble."

"What are they going to do to you? Send you to Vietnam?"

She kissed me, my linga got longer, and we made love again. It was less than an hour since we'd done this, and I hadn't had my bird's nest soup today. This was fast becoming like my last R&R in Nha Trang, except then, I was a lot younger. I pictured myself meeting Karl in Bangkok on crutches. At least I was tanned.

She fell asleep in my arms. A strong wind had come up, and I could hear the surf crashing. I couldn't get to sleep, realizing that I was up to my tanned b.u.t.t in official trouble, and getting in deeper.

I thought about the cautionary fable I'd learned on Hon Chong Mountain. No one could say I hadn't been warned.

The world is not always kind to lovers, and in the case of Paul Brenner and Susan Weber, we had really p.i.s.sed off the G.o.ds.

Susan was right that we had to leave tomorrow rather than Sat.u.r.day, which was Lunar New Year's Eve. But she knew that all week.

I was certain that Susan Weber was ready to go home, if I took her home. But she never once said, "Let's get out of here." She said, "Let me go with you wherever you have to go."

And that brought me to three possible conclusions: One, she was bored, finished with Bill, and was looking for an adventure and challenge; two, she was madly in love with me and didn't want to leave my side; three, she and I were on the same a.s.signment.